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The World Between The Seas The Vath Imperium Vath Before humanity came to it, some ancient conflict saw Tor Vath bombed by sunlight, bleachig the color from it and surrounding areas in ways nowhere else in this land has seen. The sun-bombed stonework of Tor Vath, raised walls and ground-level aqueducts lead to a circular city plan digging into the ground, with the Tor itself rising from the middle. It is said beneath the Tor lies one of the ancient dragons, though the truth of this is subject to debate. One thing is certain, though: The Tor existed long before humans or elves came to this place. Evidence suggests the tower rose much higher at some point in the past, and its dip below the surrounding terrain follows a mathematically perfect curve. Surrounding the Tor are many such impressions in the terrain, with ruined towers at their centers as well; these form the watchtowers of the city's current walls. Surrounding the capital, fortified farms, and the aqueducts themselves lead to their source lakes and rivers. Imperial fortifications (and farmland) occur along the aqueducts, despite Vath itself being grassland and steppe and largely arable. Roads link small villages throughout the Vathrian countryside; the largest concentration is townships immediately surrounding Tor Vath's exterior walls. Construction is largely stone, with several quarries existing in the southeast, as the name this mountain range rises. Also within Vath is the majority of the remaining dzerva. They maintain an "academy" (really, a walking fortress) that is currently entrenched some five miles outside the north gate of Tor Vath. This school is known as the Dzerviy Foundation. Ubu northwest of Vath, bordering the land bridge leading to Manuqua. Largely coastal, elevation rises very gradually so the 'beach' is several miles wide, interrupted by tusklike cliff formations and other stony outcroppings. Many rivers have their deltas in Ubu, leading to a landmass crisscrossed with watery channels. Before Vath invaded, the Kiribanu elves deviated wildly between fighting the Moro'a and peacefully trading with them; largely, it depended upon the community. With Vathrian annexation and occupation, a tenser peace is in effect and desegregated communities have been 'encouraged' to form. Cultural integration is poor. Vathrian stone forts are adjacent to settlements made of coquina and rattan. Also in Ubu are the ruins of a fortress known as Conch, a great, crumbling shell sitting alone in the water. Once, Conch was the sanctum of Verac, god of lies, darkness, and the sea. Lindl Northeast of Vath, its grasslands give way to fens and marshes with clusters of swampy forest emerging throughout, thanks in no small part to the proximity to the Storm. While Lindl is, as a province, formally annexed and claimed by the Empire, its land is mostly wild. What agriculture exists in Lindl is centrally-located within its denizens' floating, easily-abandoned villages. Typically, their crop of choice is rice. One real city exists in Lindl, called Aquell. Situated atop the ruins of an ancient fortification sinking slowly into a lake, Aquell's wooden buildings use its stone as a foundation, with numerous causeways crossing each other above the lake waters. Imperial outposts within Lindl are rarely more than timber-walled baileys enclosing yurt and marquee networks, with wood-plank flooring to help keep the water below where you sleep. Given the relative lack of security in Lindl, these outposts often move. Choka Northernmost province of the Empire. Choka borders Ubu and Lindl to the southeast and southwest, and is itself largely forested grassland. Chokan farming communities exist within the grasslands, but the Chokan capital - Keep's Landing - is built of the remains of a flying fortress and several airships whose magic failed them, collapsing to ruins here within Choka's northern badlands. Keep's Landing is also considered a holy site by the Garosh elves of the region, with many of their elders maintaining permanent residences in the ruins. Everybody there is pretty cool with it, these elves have been there forever and will probably be there long after they all are dead. The settlement aside, the Chokan badlands are very hostile for travellers; something about the terrain leads to roads never being truly permanent, and with there being ever many travellers to Keep's Landing, bandits prey upon those who travel alone or in small groups. This has led to heavily-armed caravans being the bulk of the traffic one is likely to encounter in the area. Choka is simultaneously the best and worst culturally-integrated province of the Empire. The Garosh elves get on great with the humans, and maintain fairly neutral relations with the Kiribanu, leading to Keep's Landing being a very multicultural settlement. The Storm The Storm is the 'new name' for a region believed by Unborn oral histories and pictographic paintings to be the cradle of Unborn civilization. In bhesa, the Storm is called Ā Guphā, or simply "the cave". What the Storm was and what the Storm is are profoundly different things. The Storm was, according to legend, once a site of great peace and development, where all peoples were welcome to join as one in a mystical city set "above the foothills, beneath the wind", called Śahēra Jhaḷakē, ''or the Shining City. According to the Outsiders, the Shining City was and yet still is within the Storm... ''probably. The certainty of Outsiders regarding the existence of the City is absolute, as is their confidence regarding the continued presence of the city within the Storm - their uncertainty lies in whether it existed prior to the current era, though its presence in legend suggests this to be so. The Storm is a broad region of mountainous territory continuously under the effect of a powerful hurricane, boldly wreathed in lightning and constantly vomiting rainfall at the ground. The mountains under the Storm are badly pitted and eroded from the constant rainfall, and the soil has become a muddy slurry. What few trees remain are waterlogged rotting husks of their prior selves, slumped against the stone. The perpetuity of the hurricane renders exploratory ventures into the Storm incredibly dangerous - with the exception of the Storm, none leave the Storm. Within the Storm dwell the Thunderfolk, also called the Lightning People or, confusingly and inconveniently, also the Storm. Rarely, the Storm will 'swell' and extend its rainfall and thunderstorm activity outward, toward a settlement, and lightning will strike the ground. From the lightning emerges the Thunderfolk, and typically that settlement will suffer grievous losses from their assault. Thunderfolk always retrieve their own injured or dead, and are known to kidnap people from the settlements they attack, with no preference of species or gender. Thunderfolk do not take children. Athara *Human peoples: Peshqil. Mostly migrant-working researchers. *Atharans. Vast majority populace. *Bhita, slave populace. Particularly swole, even for them. Manuqua *Outsiders. The Dead Length (Principality of Shandu) *Dead People. Eastern Free States Haarn *Human peoples: Moro'a *Bhita, nomadic tribals. Keep livestock, fight the moro'a for territory. Alalku *Human peoples: Koshin. The other half of those who fled Shandu. *Elven peoples: Rashasthan, aristocracy and middle classes. Skyward Peninsula *Human peoples: Peshqil, Akha. *Atharans, coastal villages. The Worlds Without The World Above The World Atlan *Human peoples: Atlani. *Elven peoples: Storm Elfs, ancestral. The World Below The World Yīqiān Dàolù *Rén: Dàrén, Yěmánrén *Dwarfs, 1/3 population, in confinement. Still dying out, though there are young dwarfs here. The World Within The Moon *Human Peoples: Atlani